Capivara (Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris), Aproveitando O Fim Do Expediente Do Clube Para Fazer Uma Boquinha,

The Masked Kitty by karlaspence35 on Flickr.

Vela natalina

I can’t stress enough the importance of stretching your hands, and forearms every morning and every evening, spend 5-10 minutes going through a stretching routine. These are very easy to do, takes little time to do them. It’s VERY common in all animation studios. Conditions can slowly develop, the most typical one is Repetitive Strain Injury, it’s a prevalent condition resulting from overusing the hands to perform a repetitive task, such as typing, clicking a mouse, writing, and of course drawing. In simple medical terms, repetitive strain injury (RSI) stems from prolonged repetitive, forceful, or awkward hand movements. The result is minor damage to muscles, tendons, and nerves of the neck, shoulder, forearm, and most commonly hand and wrist, which can cause pain, weakness, or numbness. If you’re feeling some pains, tingles, weakness, or numbness in the wrist/forearm; one of the best ways to heal quickly are ‘Contrasting Baths’. What crazy voodoo am I speaking of? A couple different physiotherapists and massage therapists had recommended this technique to me several years ago, and for anyone I knew that tried it, they all say the results are fast and effective. Commonly used by carpal tunnel suffers, it’s a method of treating muscle soreness, swelling and inflammation, it’s also known as Hot/Cold Immersion Therapy. You can use the double sink in your kitchen at home, if you don’t have one, then get your hands on two very large identical bowls, it needs to be big enough to submerge your entire forearms from wrist to elbow. Fill one up with ice cold water (with a couple dozen ice cubes floating in there). The other with very warm water, not tea-kettle boiling hot water, just hot tap water, or as warm as you can handle, no sense in burning yourself of course. Have a stop watch or clock ready, and submerge your arms for 30 seconds in the hot, then switch to doing 30 sec. in the cold, and repeat a few times back and forth, 30 sec. a piece. After only a few times you’ll notice the hot water getting cooler and the cold water getting warmer, so then the technique grows to be less effective, but by then, the job is done. The idea is that the extreme heat and cold contracts and expands your blood vessels, promoting greater blood flow to circulate and flush through your arms, and increased blood flow is what aids in healing faster! Enjoy!

[Source]

MIKE ROUSH / The Hidden Life of the Burrowing Owl / 5:16

I have always been fascinated by wildlife documentaries. As a kid I would take my mom’s camera and try and get as close to the neighborhood animals as I could. Most of the time this would mean long hours sitting motionless on the back deck with bird seed sprinkled on my lap and shoulders. I never got the shot I wanted, so when Chris and Shannon  asked me if I wanted to make an animated film for Titmouse, I said yes before they finished asking. 

Chris and Shannon Prynoski, Dik Pose, and I Line up a shot in the middle of nowhere. photo by Steve Kellener.

Early thumbnails of the burrowing owl.

Rough turnaround.

"Owl" was animated in Flash. I used a technique where I would animate traditionally very rough, then I would take a second pass cleaning up symbols that I would be able to reuse later. Most of the final animation you see in "Owl" is puppeted symbol animation with hundreds of symbols and a different puppet for each shot. This way I could get the detail and animation quality I wanted.

The Flash break-down on one of the owl puppets. Lots of feathers!

One of my favorite parts of making this film was having to get out of the studio and go on location. I found an amazing place in central California called The Carrizo Plain using google maps. I spent the weekends driving all around taking pictures and exploring. Fun fact: The burrow used in the short was an actual owl burrow. On one of the days I was taking photos of the burrow one hissed at me from inside the burrow with it’s rattlesnake like call. It scared me nearly to death.

This is how I made all the “live action” backgrounds. I drew a storyboard of what I wanted and photo collaged lots of pictures together to make it look like what I drew. Unfortunately these places don’t exist in real life.

Whenever the owl had to touch the flower or fork, I took hundreds of photos, cut them out in photoshop and animated them. Fun.

On location I used a couple stand-in models to get the lighting right and a maquette when animating for inspiration.

I had a great time making this film and when I was done we were lucky enough to show it at festivals around the world. After 4 years the “Owl” showed at more than 40 festivals, in over 25 countries. 

Can’t wait to do another one.

Mike’s Tumblr

A roda e a lua

Anatomy of Films [wronghands] Previously: Anatomy of Songs

Pré-rosa

Passando sobre o encontro das águas perto de Manaus (at Encontro Das Águas - Manaus-AM)

Dama voadora, símbolo da Rolls Royce.

Uma pausa para beber um cappuccino é um pequeno agrado a si mesmo. Com tantas coisas para fazer todos os dias, é fácil esquecer de dedicar dez minutos para desacelerar um pouco, e pensar nas coisas da vida. Uma coisa que vem à mente nessas horas é o fato de que muitos cafés em Brasília não servem cappuccino verdadeiro, por ignorância ou por preguiça. O que normalmente servem é um preparado instantâneo sem graça e entupido de porcarias. A receita de cappuccino é simples: uma dose de expresso, uma dose de leite fervido e uma dose de leite espumando no vapor, servidos nessa ordem. A arte com leite não é obrigatória, mas muito bem-vinda. Macchiato e latte são variantes com doses diferentes de leite. O processo todo de preparo não deve levar cinco minutos e não demanda grande habilidade para fazer uma versão mais simples. Sei que colocar pó instantâneo e jogar água quente é mais fácil e rápido, mas, como cliente, apreciaria muito mais se o barista encarregado pudesse dedicar uns minutinhos a mais para eu poder apreciar uma bebida de mais qualidade... (at Brasília, Brazil)